Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

Blurb

As Seraphina travels the Southlands in search of the other half-breeds to help in the war effort, the dragon General Comonot and his Loyalists fight against the upstart Old Guard – with the fate of Goredd and the other human countries hanging in the balance.

My Perspective

Shadow Scale is the sequel to Seraphina and follows Seraphina as she makes her way to Ninys, Samsam, and Porphyry to find her fellow ityasaari and convince them to come back to Goredd to help in the war effort. However she soon attracts the attention of someone else wanting to use the ityasaari and things begin spiraling out of Seraphina’s control.

The story pretty much seamlessly flows on from the previous one and there are little tidbits of information throughout that help you remember any of the important details you may have forgotten.

Seraphina seemed to have lost some of her nerve in this book and I found her attitude a bit galling. She wasn’t as brave and she harboured so much guilt over Jannoula and what had been done to her (even though she had nothing to do with it) that I felt she was a bit submissive in regards to Jannoula’s actions. I really liked Abdo and I enjoyed getting to know him a bit more. I absolutely abhorred Jannoula and was like, please, someone kill her already! What she went through was horrific however instead of turning her life around, the way she dealt with it was so cruel and manipulative. It was fun to meet all the other ityasaari.

The story was interesting and kept you on your toes and I enjoyed reading about the different places that they traveled to.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed in the ending though. I found it a tad lame.

Overall the book was enjoyable and a must read if you’ve read Seraphina to complete the story however it definitely wasn’t as good as the first book.

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Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Blurb

The kingdom of Goredd is populated by humans and by dragons who fold themselves into a human form. Though they live alongside each other, the peace between them is uneasy.

But when a member of the royal family is murdered, and the crime appears to have been committed by a dragon the peace and treaty between both worlds is seriously threatened . . .

Into this comes Seraphina, a gifted musician who joins the royal court as the assistant to the court composer. She is soon drawn into the murder investigation and, as she uncovers hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace in Goredd for good, finds herself caught desperately in the middle of the tension.

For Seraphina hides a secret – the secret behind her musical gift – and if she is found out, her life is in serious danger . . .

My Perspective

This is the fifteenth book I read from my post Credit Where Credit’s Due. I read about Seraphina by Rachel Hartman from Sarah at The Last Book I Read. You can read her thoughts on the book here.

Seraphina is about Seraphina Dombegh, assistant to Viridius, court composer for Castle Goredd. Seraphina is busy preparing for the fortieth anniversary of the peace treaty between Goreddi and dragons. Relations between humans and dragons have become somewhat tensioned though due to the murder of Prince Rufus. Through Orma, Seraphina’s tutor who is also a dragon, Seraphina becomes involved in matters and sets in motion things that cannot be undone.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I found the concept really fresh and interesting. It was well written and kept me on my toes. It was medium paced with a good balance of both action and character building. One thing I think would have made it even better was if the author had spent a little more time on “world building”. I found it a bit simplistic and unoriginal.

Seraphina was easy to like although not super easy to relate to. This didn’t stop me from caring for her and rooting for her. She was smart, brave and extremely talented. I really liked Kiggs and Selda, which made a certain circumstance really hard and I was so torn. Orma was thoroughly likeable despite his quirks.

I found it so refreshing that the romance in the book was quite muted and didn’t take away from the overall story.

I’m really looking forward to reading the next book in the series!

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy.